


Tell Me Exactly When

by Clockwork



Series: Statements [10]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Spoilers, current series, definitely will hate himself in the morning, mild violence, misuse of position, nearly dubious consent, pairing week 2018, piles of nonsense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-20
Updated: 2018-02-20
Packaged: 2019-03-21 13:15:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13741683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clockwork/pseuds/Clockwork
Summary: Up to date with canon, and definite spoilersTim's positive with all he's learned that he's done and ending things, but like the Institute, Elias Bouchard can not be easily quit.





	Tell Me Exactly When

There was a sheet of paper lying on Tim’s desk when he returned from researching the latest of the archive’s statements that Martin had passed on to him. It had been, as so many of them turned out to be, a dead in but out researching was better than hanging around the damn archives waiting for hell to break loose again. Which was why he paused at the door, eyeing the paper suspiciously, even if he couldn’t make out what it said from where he stood.

Pondering for a long moment about turning on healing and heading back the way he’d come, Tim finally dropped his messenger bag on the floor by his desk, gave a few choice curse words to whomever was watching over them as he was want to do these days and picked up the paper. 

The writing was sweeping in midnight black ink on a paper that was thick and creamy and reminded Tim of something you would write love notes on. About a century ago. Except it was anything but a love note and the words sent a cold chill up his spine.

_Mr Stoker, would you please come to my office at your earliest convenience. Alone. -Elias ___

__Tossing the paper back on the desk, Tim considered picking up his bag and leaving for the day. Maybe the week. He knew that in the end he’d come back, no matter what he truly wanted. It wasn’t just the warning Elias had given them that night when he’d admitted to the killings, but because Tim had tried it often enough._ _

__After the worms of Jane Prentiss. After the tunnels. After every crazy thing that had been thrown at them, he had tried to leave. Even before Elias had made it clear just how connected they were to the Archive, Tim had learned that leaving was never an option. Maybe he couldn’t leave for good, but he could run. He could take a few days, and drink too much, and get in too many fights, and maybe get himself locked up for the night until he slept it off. It didn’t solve the problems, but it sure as hell lifted the weight that seemed to physically drape around his shoulders like a mantle of lead._ _

__Instead he kicked his research bag up under the desk, gave the leg of the desk a kick for good measure, and headed for the Elias’ office. Not pausing at the door to knock, he pushed in, letting the width of his body take up the space inside the door frame but not stepping any further._ _

__“You wanted something?”_ _

__Elias did not so much as look up from his desk, his eyes intent on a file before him. Lifting a hand, one finger extended, his eyes darted back and forth, taking in the words on the page. If not for that single digit, Tim honestly might have wondered if he’d heard him at all. As it was, he wasn’t sure Elias truly realized who was there._ _

__As the minutes dragged on, Tim fought the urge to shift, to fold his arms over his chest, or to turn on heel and leave. He wouldn’t give Elias the satisfaction of knowing that any of this rattled him, and he definitely wouldn’t give him the delight in using whatever power kept them bound here to maybe even physically drag him back. Or worse, make him want to come back to Elias’ office._ _

__“You’re busy. I’ll come back never,” he said at last, backing up a step._ _

__Which was, of course, the exact moment that Elias carefully folded the file close, folding his hands together a top it and looking up at Tim._ _

__“I appreciate you being so prompt, Tim. Step in and close the door, would you?”_ _

__“Yeah, I think not. Anything you got to say, say it. I’ve got better things to do.”_ _

__Perhaps on another the smile Elias gave would have been beautiful. Coming from him though it was sharp and toothy and reminded Tim of a wild animal more than a person. A cold, slimy, scaly one at that._ _

__“As you wish, though I’m not entirely certain you would want your colleagues listening in. Isn’t it enough that They are listening?”_ _

__Tim could entirely _hear _the capital, the naming, at the beginning of that word innocuous as it was. He also could hear the implied threat in Elias’ words, just what he would share with the others, if Tim didn’t do as he was told.___ _

____It was for that reason that he closed the door, a bit harder than necessary, then leaned back against it, arms folded over his chest._ _ _ _

____“I know you’ve got this whole egotistical showman thing of being a dick and making big reveals, but there’s nothing here, between you and me, that has a damn thing to do with the others. That?” He waved one hand to convey without putting anything into words. If he’d learned anything working at the Magnus Institute it was that words had power. Amazing, eldritch, dangerous power. “Is definitely in the past, and it’s going to stay there.”_ _ _ _

____Elias rose then, sedate and almost passive in his movements though he circled the desk, closing a bit of the distance between himself and Tim. It was then Tim realized the mistake in closing the door. The others finding out about the past was a lot less of a problem than locking himself in a room with Elias Bouchard._ _ _ _

____“Why?” It was a simple straightforward question and yet Tim knew there was much more weight behind that word than he cared to address._ _ _ _

____“Shouldn’t me saying that it’s over be enough? Why doesn’t matter.”_ _ _ _

____“But it does, Tim. Everything matters,” Elias noted, the corner of his mouth twitching in a way that Tim had once stupidly found attractive as he stepped closer to the younger man. “How about this. If you answer a question for me, I’ll answer one for you. Now why are you putting an end to things?”_ _ _ _

____Not waiting for an answer if Tim might agree to this quid pro quo, forging ahead both in words and steps, now only standing certainly within a range that Tim once enjoyed but certainly found uncomfortable now._ _ _ _

____“Okay, you want to act dumb? I got no problem telling you exactly why this…” Tim said, gesturing between them now with the same sort of wave of his hand from before. “Is never going to happen again. You’re a liar, and a murderer.”_ _ _ _

____“Why do I think lying has you more upset than murder? Not that I lied to you, Tim.”_ _ _ _

____“The hell you didn’t,” he growled, pushing away from the door. The close quarters already left them toe to toe with his movement._ _ _ _

____“Tell me exactly when I lied to you.”_ _ _ _

____Tim’s mouth opened, fire in his eyes as he tried to form a sentence. Sadly, he knew exactly where Elias was going with his, and his jaw snapped close with an audible, sharp sound._ _ _ _

____“Exactly. I never lied to you. In fact, I was the one that constantly reassured you and Martin that Jon was certainly not the killer, and he would return to us with time. Both of which were true. I also never told you that you could quit, or leave the Magnus Institute. In fact, when you were hired, I do believe I told you I looked forward to you being here for a long time to come. Which is true. Certainly not like Gertrude’s assistants. Or Sasha.”_ _ _ _

____That definitely put the wind back in Tim’s sails and left him angrier than he’d wanted to let himself get._ _ _ _

____“You fucking knew, didn’t you? You knew what that thing had done to her?!”_ _ _ _

____He moved in suddenly, reaching for the lapel of Elias’ jacket._ _ _ _

____What happened next came so fast Tim had no time to react. Later, when he would think about it, he couldn’t say how Elias moved, even what he did. Tim suddenly found himself pressed back against the door, Elias’ hands balled up in the front of his henley so hard that the knuckles are white, and his face a deep shade of red as he glared up at the other man._ _ _ _

____“I will never have you put your hands on me in anger.”_ _ _ _

____Only then did Elias’ voice lose that cool, amused tone that so often grated on Tim’s nerves. It was thick and hard and came with a heat that Tim could not help but react to, even as he hated himself for it._ _ _ _

____Strong hands wrapped around Elias’ wrists, not pushing himself away but pulling his hands closer so that the ridges of his knuckles dug in deep against Tim’s chest. Pain coursed through him, running like quicksilver along the heat that Elias’ broken, rough tones ignited in him._ _ _ _

____Elias’ as himself had first seduced Tim weeks after he had started, but it was in pushing Elias past his limits, in breaking him of that mask, that Tim truly found himself excited and wanting as much as he was expected to give._ _ _ _

____“Answer me, Elias, and I’ll give you whatever you want tonight. Did you know about Sasha?”_ _ _ _

____Even as he offered it, Tim knew it was a lie. What he gave, what he would do (Or trying to do) to Elias would all depend on what answer he gave._ _ _ _

____“I suspected. I suspected they would come for one of you, just as they did Gertrude’s assistants. I didn’t know it was Sasha until it was too late, until they had breached our security and I couldn’t stop it.”_ _ _ _

____Tim wondered if it was a lie, straining to hear the truth. What echoed in his head was words Elias had spoken moments earlier. _Tell me exactly when I lied to you?__ _ _ _

____Maybe he had. Maybe he did every time he opened his fucking posh mouth with its silver, skilled tongue and perfect white teeth that Tim alternated between wanting on his skin, and wanting to punch down his throat._ _ _ _

____His mind raced, wishing he had a way of knowing if the words were true. Yet even as he found himself incapable of knowing, he felt Elias’ hand slide down his body, pulling out of Tim’s slack grip. He sank to his knees in his tailored suit, and expensive brogues, so that skilled fingers could work open the fly of Tim’s jeans, pulling the fabric apart to the width of the zipper so that his tongue could drag along the flesh bared beneath where Tim’s penchant for a lack of pants was evident._ _ _ _

____“I will protect the Institute, Tim,” he murmured so that the breath of his words blew over wet skin. “I will do whatever is required of me, and put my own life ahead of everything around me but Them. What I won’t do is lie to you. I will not talk about things, and I will refuse to answer, but I won’t lie to you.”_ _ _ _

____The speech is given as his hands work the loosened denim down over the narrow line of Tim’s hips, giving himself more to play with._ _ _ _

____“Now, be a good boy and stop grinding your teeth. I don’t need the distraction.”_ _ _ _

____The next swipe of his tongue over tender flesh made Tim whine, hating the way the sound seemed dragged from his throat. It did the trick though, and he forgot all about wanting to end things, to never let Elias hold him at his mercy again. But like the Institute, he wasn’t sure he could ever quit this either._ _ _ _


End file.
